Recruiting Participants for the 'Learning Support Startup Training (Online)' in FY2026 for Organizations and Individuals Wishing to Start Free Learning Support

Certified NPO Kids' Door (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Chairperson: Yumiko Watanabe; hereinafter 'Kids' Door') announces that the 'Learning Support Startup Training,' which has been conducted since 2024 with the support of Mitsubishi Corporation, will be expanded from FY2026 as a new training program specialized in launching learning support activities. We are also widely recruiting organizations to participate in this training.

Due to prolonged price increases, more and more parenting households are facing financial difficulties and cannot afford to send their children to cram schools. While there are over 12,000 children's cafeterias nationwide in Japan, the number of free learning support services is still small, and Kids' Door receives many inquiries such as, 'Is there any learning support available locally?' A Cabinet Office survey also shows that over 40% of junior high school students from low-income families responded, 'I would like to use a place where I can get free study assistance.'

Created by Kids' Door based on the 'Analysis Report on Children's Living Conditions Survey, Reiwa 3 (2021)' (Cabinet Office)

https://warp.ndl.go.jp/web/20230403094438/www8.cao.go.jp/kodomonohinkon/chousa/r03/pdf-index.html

This training condenses the reality of child poverty, Kids' Door's 16 years of accumulated learning support know-how, and seven steps to start learning support into a 3-hour session, aiming to increase the number of free learning sessions across Japan. As it is held online, participants from all over the country can join.

We welcome anyone, including those who already operate children's cafeterias or community spaces and feel the need for learning support, those who haven't started anything yet but want to help children in their community, those who have already started free learning sessions but are struggling with operations, students, working adults, homemakers, and seniors.

While it is often thought that 'free learning sessions seem difficult,' even holding them once or twice a month, or just as an event during summer or long holidays, can be a valuable place for children to receive learning support. We encourage you to take this training and expand the circle of free learning support throughout Japan.

In FY2026, the training will be held once a month from June 19th until November. The training participation fee is free. Please note that the free offering of the Learning Support Startup Training is scheduled to end this fiscal year. Please take advantage of this opportunity.

'Learning Support Startup Training' Overview

<Schedule>

June 19 (Fri) 10:00-13:00

July 4 (Sat) 18:00-21:00

August 7 (Fri) 18:00-21:00

September 5 (Sat) 10:00-13:00

October 2 (Fri) 10:00-13:00

November 7 (Sat) 18:00-21:00

<Method>

Online (Zoom)

<Participation Fee>

Free

*You can participate for free thanks to the support of Mitsubishi Corporation.

<Application Method>

Please apply using the application form below.

https://forms.office.com/r/JjhR5XQc0y

*Deadline: One week before each session date

About Certified NPO Kids' Door https://kidsdoor.net/

Since its establishment in 2009, Kids' Door has been working to solve child poverty issues in Japan. They operate free learning sessions and community-based learning centers that provide meals and other daily life support, targeting elementary to high school students from impoverished families and young people who have dropped out of high school, in Tokyo and its suburbs, Miyagi, and Kobe. Since 2020, when the number of parenting households struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly increased, they created a system called 'Family Support,' which provides information support, food and stationery aid, and employment support for parents to registered impoverished parenting households nationwide. Chairperson Yumiko Watanabe also serves as a temporary member of the Children's Poverty Countermeasures and Single-Parent Family Support Subcommittee of the Children and Families Agency's Children and Families Council, and a member of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Social Security Council, Self-Sufficiency Support for the Needy, and Public Assistance Subcommittee, among other government committee roles.